How Often Should you Check your Game Cameras?

Entered by Gary Howey

Former tournament angler, hunting and fishing guide. Inducted into the National Freshwater Fishing "Hall of Fame" in 2017. Active member of the Association of Great Lakes Outdoor Writers (AGLOW), Past Executive Director (AGLOW). Howey has been an outdoor communicator since 1980 with his award winning syndicated "Of the Outdoors" columns appearing in magazine, newspapers, and tabloids throughout he upper Midwest and nationally.

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THE GAMEKEEPERS OF MOSSY OAK

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October 4, 2017

One of the questions we get asked a lot is how often should I check my trail cameras. Everyone is eager to know what’s on their cameras, but checking them too often can leave a lot of scent behind and give mature deer a reason to avoid the area.

Consider Trail Cam Locations

The location of your camera has a lot to do with how often you should check it and each situation can be a little bit different. In a situation where you have a camera on a row crop field edge or well traveled road, it’s not going to hurt to go check your camera every couple of weeks, especially if you can check it out of a truck or UTV. On the other hand, if your camera is close to a bedding area, heavy cover, or a remote food source you don’t want to go in every few days to check your camera.

Checking Trail Cams Digitally

A great feature on some cameras is the ability to send pictures through a cellular network. The cell capable cameras work well if you live a long way from your land and it isn’t feasible to check them as often as you would like. Cameras that send pictures through either email or text messaging can be really advantageous to absentee landowners or for cameras placed in hard to reach areas. It is very tempting to check cameras every couple of days, but remember that disturbing the woods too often and leaving human scent behind can be counterproductive to your hunting and land management.

For more GameKeeper tips on using trail cameras read “Trail Camera Settings”. Today’s trail cameras have a ton of options that you can set up specifically for your location and situation. If you’re setting it up over deer bait like corn or a mineral lick, turn your frequency and sensitivity down so you don’t end up with a lot of photos of the same thing.

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Extras from OutdoorMetrix
Regardless of how often you check your cameras, make sure you have a way to manage and analyze all those images. Using an app like OutdoorMetrix makes it extremely easy to keep track of camera locations, tag and organize your pictures and see weather for every image.